Even the casual passer-by will know a lot about Ozzy Osbourne these days. The early years with Black Sabbath, the riotous 80's with it's dove/bad biting and Alamo pissing, the latter day mess that was MTV's The Osbourne's...so does everyone really need a 90 minute documentary looking at his life?
The answer, predictably, is not really. God Bless Ozzy Osbourne just retreads the same old ground we all know about. Don't get me wrong, it's an entertaining enough watch, and there are some different talking heads for once, people we haven't normally seen talk about Ozzy.
His kids from his first marriage have a bit of pop about what a bad father he was during the Sabbath heyday, his brother has a few childhood tales, and even his daughter Aimee (who wanted no part of the Osbourne's TV show) adds some input.
The film is co-produced by his son Jack, so that's probably the reason we get to see some different people, but it's just the same old stories. In fact, if you've seen the Don't Blame Me documentary from 1992, there really isn't much new here, other than the reality TV show.
Of course, The Osbournes is how a lot of people first heard of Ozzy and his family, but what they didn't know is that pretty much everyone was off their faces on alcohol and drugs at the time, so MTV's 'wacky' fly on the wall documentary was more a disturbing look at how alcoholism tears a family apart, but made for idiots to laugh at. In fact, one of the few revelations in the documentary tells of how Ozzy's drinking and drug intake was at an all time high during the course of the show, even topping the chaos of the 80's.
The 80's stories are always morbidly fascinating to me, particularly the tour with Motley Crue. Tommy Lee is on hand to retail the piss licking and ant hill snorting, but does add a story I hadn't heard before (or can't remember hearing, at least) involving a 'messy' encounter in a hotel room, not one for the queasy.
And for the fans, it's a bit worse. Hardly any of the music is touched upon. While there's some time devoted to the tragic loss of Randy Rhoads, we don't really here anyone talk about any particular songs, or albums. Not even the old story of how quickly 'Paranoid' was written is brought up. And on a similar note, the documentary footage of Ozzy on the road must be pushing 2 years old already, as it still shows Zakk Wylde in the band, and he left/was replaced by Gus G well over 18 months ago.
While it gives us nothing new, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne at least shows the world that the stumbling drunk seen on The Osbournes was exactly that. How many people thought that was how he was all the time? This new documentary shows the real man, articulate, amusing and an artistic side as well. And it's about time the world saw that.
***
While it does show everyone what Ozzy is like now he's clean and sober, and talks to some new people, it really is the same thing rehashed. If you've seen Don't Blame Me, or read any books by the family, there's not going to be much here for you. A entertaining if disposable watch.
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